![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-300x200.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has reiterated its stand to close its 2022 registration exercise on Saturday, March 26, as earlier scheduled.
The board made this known in its Weekly Bulletin of the Office of the Registrar on Monday, in Abuja.
JAMB said that the sale of e-PINs for its Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and Direct Entry (DE) which commenced on Feb. 19, to end on Saturday March 26, would not attract any extension.
“This emphasis is essential because of the persistent drop in the number of e-PINs being vended, as well as the low turnout of candidates at the various centres across the nation.
“It would be recalled that the board had stated that it would not extend the registration beyond the window allotted to it by relevant authorities to conduct the exercise.
“As discussed earlier, registration dates are not fixed arbitrarily but through a consensus of the Federal Ministry of Education and examination agencies, before the commencement of the exercise.
“Therefore, all candidates who desired to register for this year’s examination are to do so immediately, as they only have this week and no extension would be granted after close of registration,” JAMB stated.
The board, however, said that it had so far registered 1, 512, 739 candidates as at Saturday, March 19.
It added that it had also, remitted N261, 992, 200 to accredited Computer Based Tests (CBT) centres and the N700 accumulated service charge for the fourth week of the exercise.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that the board had earlier introduced a cashless policy and directed all candidates to pay the N700 service charge to the e-PIN vendors, alongside the N3,500 application fees.
JAMB said that the cashless policy was introduced to curb the excess of some fraudulent CBT centres, who would want to take advantage of hapless candidates.
It promised, however, to remit to the centres, the accumulated N700 service charge on a weekly basis, proportional to the number of candidates they registered.
In a similar development, the board said that it had suspended two financial institutions who were also vendors in its ongoing exercise.
JAMB said that the vendors were also blacklisted for allowing their agents to vend UTME e-PINs to candidates, above the stipulated price of N4,700 cost of registration.
The board said that, besides blacklisting the vendors, it would retrieve the details of the agents for prosecution.
It would also report their illicit act to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, to ensure extorted candidates were fully refunded.
